Alban S.K. Bagbin
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban S.K. Bagbin, has allegedly sent a request for more cash to cover his medical bills in Dubai.
Mr. Bagbin, who claims he travelled with four people on his recent trip, in less than a week after jetting out of the country, is said to have asked for an additional $50,000, having claimed $120,000 already, sources indicated.
With the latest request, Mr. Bagbin would have blown $170,000 on this current trip.
Information gleaned from the corridors of Parliament indicates that this is not the first time the Speaker is making such a request for extra money.
According to a source, in July last year, when the Speaker made his first official trip to Dubai for his medical care, he went with a spending money of $150,000, after which he demanded an additional $100,000, but Parliament was able to raise $90,000, bringing the total to $240,000.
Mr. Bagbin’s trips to Dubai are making him the most expensive Speaker in the Fourth Republic, using the first 14 months of previous Speakers’ tenure as a yardstick.
The sources alleged that the Speaker stays in a four-bed suite in a hotel reserved for Presidents in Dubai.
The Speaker, who is on his fifth trip, where he spends an average of $200,000, has already spent $1.1million.
Alban Bagbin recently stirred the hornet’s nest with his unverified statement that he is the least travelled Speaker in the Fourth Republic.
He may have not travelled to several countries, but his constant trips to Dubai for medical care and number of days spent appear to surpass previous Speakers’ expenditure list.
The Speaker on March 7, 2022, in the course of defending his Dubai medical trips, claimed that he is the least travelled, and asked his critics to turn their attention to other leaders of the House.
BY Vincent Kubi